Level 90 Boosts Cost $60, PvP Spectator Invite System in Warlords

In between server restarts, our friends at WoW Insider saw that the in-game store was updated to show $60 as the cost for a level 90 character boost. The servers were taken down soon after, so perhaps this feature isn't meant to be live yet. Read more about it here.

We also have a new post from Blizzard on PvP improvements in Warlords, such as Skirmishes and Spectator Mode. The Trial of the Gladiator system is also going to be scrapped.

Lore

Warlords of Draenor will introduce tons of new features and updates to improve and expand upon many aspects of World of Warcraft, including the PvP experience. We gave you a first look at some of our PvP plans BlizzCon, and as with any development process, plans can sometimes change as they—well—develop. We’d like to share a few of those changes with you today.

The Tale of Trial of the Gladiator

At BlizzCon, we unveiled plans for a new form of ranked Arena competition called the Trial of the Gladiator, a mode of play that would available during certain hours and which would require players to use a special Trial-only set of gear. The goal was to concentrate high-level competition to specific times, to better match players against competitive opponents, and to make exploitation more difficult.

While there were a lot of potential benefits to that system, ultimately we agree with some of the concerns community has raised about the way it worked. Ultimately, players who couldn’t play during the pre-set times for Trial of the Gladiator might feel like they’re missing out, and it was possible that normal Arena games would lose a lot of their replay value without rating to push for. Because of these issues, we’ve decided not to continue development of Trial of the Gladiator and to focus our efforts on giving players more ways to find PvP that suits them—so here’s what we’re doing instead:

Arena for Everyone: Skirmishes

You might recall the Skirmish feature that went alongside ranked Arena play when that feature was first introduced. It was virtually identical to ranked play, with the exception that there was no ladder or rating involved. However, Skirmishes felt very redundant at the time, and few players took advantage of them, so they were removed with the release of Cataclysm. However, as more and more players get involved in PvP, a higher demand for a form of “lower-pressure” Arena gameplay made us think it was time to revisit the Skirmish idea . . . and make a few important improvements along the way.

In Warlords of Draenor, Skirmishes will return as a form of unranked Arena play that will allow you to queue for 2v2 or 3v3 battles with friends or by yourself. Winning a Skirmish will reward you with Honor and a random bonus, which could be gold, more Honor, a small amount of Conquest Points, or possibly something entirely different. We think this will be a great way for players who haven’t tried Arenas before to get their feet wet, and will allow experienced players to experiment with alternate specs or builds without worrying about tanking their rating.

But Wait, There’s More: Spectator Invite System

While Skirmishes should provide a great opportunity for some more laid-back PvP gameplay, we also wanted to address top-end competition as well. Tournament organizers, often with the use of various third-party add-ons, have been able to piece together a “spectator mode” of sorts and run online tournaments, but they’ve been required to jump through several hoops to actually make that work. We’d like to simplify that process and put more power in the hands of add-on developers so that community-run tournaments will be easier to organize, manage, and broadcast.

Our new Spectator Invite system will allow a match organizer to invite two teams to play against each other in a PvP spectacle called a War Game. Then, when the match begins, everyone in the match organizer’s party will be able to watch those two teams duke it out. We’ll also be opening this feature up to add-on developers so they can come up with tools for tournament organizers to customize how the match is presented on the screen. Finally, we’ll be providing Tournament Mode gear—a special set of gear that can only be used in War Games—to help tournament runners ensure that all players are on equal footing.

We’re excited for these new features, and we feel they’ll allow a much broader spectrum of players to be able to find a type of PvP gameplay they enjoy. Whether you’re looking to compete against the best of the best in a tournament or just want to hang out and relax with a little bloodshed, we hope these updates provide something for the PvPer in you.

Comments

Comment by Azrile

on 2014/02/18 15:25:24

I'm a player with a decent amount of disposable cash, and WoW is my primary form of entertainment. I've bought mounts and cosmetic gear and pets, paid for race changes and server transfers and even gifted items to friends. However, I believe that $60 is too much for a character boost, especially one that only goes to 90. I could see spending $25 once in a while if I really needed a high end character, but anything more than is a no-go for me.

And again, I feel as though I'm the correct demographic for this service.

I do not believe Blizzard actually wants to sell many of these. I think the sole reason they added them was because they knew with the free-90 that comes with the expansion, people were going to try to circument it anyway (buy expansion, account transfer).

I dunno, I was thinking $30 or $40.. But i never underestimate the amount of people who buy this crap... like those transmorg helms.. they were everywhere the first week. Normal people think ´that is way too much´.. and yet there will be a ton of sales anyway.

Comment by lankybrit

on 2014/02/18 15:28:09

Holy hell? $60 for a boost? That is the cost of a new game. I guess I won't be taking advantage of that feature when it comes out.

Indeed. Priced just a bit too high.

Comment by Pixel78995

on 2014/02/18 15:29:41

Good idea having expensive price but annoying for me because, unfortunately, I know I'm going to buy it anyway :L

Comment by Worcester

on 2014/02/18 17:14:29

How about a "reduced price" for repeat customers? Like if you spend $50 in a calendar year, the price of a character boost drops to 30 bucks.

Here's my thinking... I can understand why the price needs to be high. I assume it's an attempt to deter unforeseen exploits. However, as a loyal customer who routinely buys items from the Blizzard store, it seems a bit like a price gouge... or at the very least like I'm paying for someone else's bad behavior.

Maybe it's just me.

Comment by Interest

on 2014/02/18 17:33:52

Holy hell? $60 for a boost? That is the cost of a new game. I guess I won't be taking advantage of that feature when it comes out.

Indeed. Priced just a bit too high.

I'm going to have to safely say I agree with this. I am ALMOST certain boosters charge less than this, for a start...

Comment by Zarbryn

on 2014/02/18 17:42:44

Im not completely against the $60 price point, as it will discourage people from using it unless they absolutely feel they need to (for example if they want to play with friends on a different alliance and dont want to move their main) . Which I assume is the point, Bliz dont want people repeatedly using it. Leveling is part of the experience and it teaches people how to play their class.

It is a shame that people with more money IRL get an advantage even in video games, but there lots of ways people can take advantage of that in wow anyway.

I probably cant afford it and wont be using it, but that would be true if it were $20.

I am ALMOST certain boosters charge less than this, for a start...

Yes, but this wont get your account banned :P

Comment by Jkpman

on 2014/02/18 17:58:38

Normal people think ´that is way too much´.. and yet there will be a ton of sales anyway.

People have a lot more disposable income these days.I don't believe you or anyone has the right to say what people should or should not spend their money on, and you sure as hell don't have the right to say what is "normal"

Comment by lankybrit

on 2014/02/18 18:04:53

Holy hell? $60 for a boost? That is the cost of a new game. I guess I won't be taking advantage of that feature when it comes out.

Indeed. Priced just a bit too high.

I'm going to have to safely say I agree with this. I am ALMOST certain boosters charge less than this, for a start...

The way I look at it, it's too much for a standard 483 level 90. However, if it came with two level 600 professions and all trainer recipes, that would be another thing.

Comment by Airlin

on 2014/02/18 19:12:02

Truly I do not think the price point is high enough. Perhaps 100.00 seems more appropriate. There are a lot of peeps out there that have plenty of spare cash sitting around to bypass the work involved in leveling and LEARNING a class. If the price is too cheap you will see too many toons out there playing who are truly unskilled and lazy players. You really want the servers saturated with tanks and healers who have absolutely no clue what they are doing, simply because they opted to pay out the work involved in understanding the mechanics of these specs?

Keeping the price point high ensures that it is a serious bite to ones pocketbook and may require a player to think hard about whether or not they really want to sac the funds for such a class or role.

Just food for thought.

Comment by BMHunterMain

on 2014/02/18 19:51:06

I have had no real opinion of boost-to-90 and no interest in ever using the paid service, regardless of the cost. That said, the notion that Blizz might charge $60 for the service (I realize this is still just speculation) really rubbed me the wrong way. On the one hand, to somebody that wants an immediate boost to 90, the amount of time it saves them is worth far, far more than $60. On the other hand, aside from the cost of setting up and implementing the boost program, this is something that costs Blizzard nothing on a per-use basis... the equivalent of selling a mount, in cost to them. Chances are the process is 100% automated... asking $60 for something like that almost seems offensive to me, like they must think I am a chump to even suggest such a thing.

Comment by BMHunterMain

on 2014/02/18 19:59:06

Normal people think ´that is way too much´.. and yet there will be a ton of sales anyway.

People have a lot more disposable income these days.I don't believe you or anyone has the right to say what people should or should not spend their money on, and you sure as hell don't have the right to say what is "normal"

He has the right to say just about anything, just like you have the right to get offended over completely benign statements and take BBS posts SO SUPER CEREAL

Comment by zHwK

on 2014/02/18 20:30:15

I can foresee a little bit of abuse with that spectator mode. What if someone in the Game Organizer's party is communicating with Vent or TeamSpeak with one of the competing teams and keeping them informed on the opposing team's actions?Since WoW cannot monitor external means of communication I'm not sure how they would prevent that.Of course if the team getting abused figures out that scheme, that particular game organizer's reputation and future prospects will take a hit, but I think there will be abuse anyway.

Your statement doesn't really make sense. Beside the fact that the only exploitable thing in spectator mode could be telling the team where stealthies are hiding, since everything else concerning the strategy of a match is inside players' heads...War Games are unranked, it doesnt make any sense to get invited to a War Game just to be cheated. And if it eventually happens, its like if you duel someone and he starts flying away with his mount: you forfeit

Comment by Jazzycakes2

on 2014/02/18 20:50:46

Holy hell? $60 for a boost? That is the cost of a new game. I guess I won't be taking advantage of that feature when it comes out.

It's not a "feature", it's a "service". And you've lived without it for 10 years with heirloom gear, RAF and other "features", I'm sure this isn't as much of a concern that you make it out to be.

Comment by Jazzycakes2

on 2014/02/18 20:54:56

I have had no real opinion of boost-to-90 and no interest in ever using the paid service, regardless of the cost. That said, the notion that Blizz might charge $60 for the service (I realize this is still just speculation) really rubbed me the wrong way. On the one hand, to somebody that wants an immediate boost to 90, the amount of time it saves them is worth far, far more than $60. On the other hand, aside from the cost of setting up and implementing the boost program, this is something that costs Blizzard nothing on a per-use basis... the equivalent of selling a mount, in cost to them. Chances are the process is 100% automated... asking $60 for something like that almost seems offensive to me, like they must think I am a chump to even suggest such a thing.

You are offended because they know how to make profit? I don't believe the mounts are worth the $30AU we have to pay for them, but I've accepted it as a cash cow. The only thing I dislike about it is they'll have people working on a new paid feature rather than working on more content.

Comment by polvitaklaaja

on 2014/02/18 23:56:41

hmm, atleast i now know that how much my gaming from lvl1-lvl90 has cost in money :)so, to make fast mathematics, what's that now.. hmm. 1,5dollars per level?fun.now i can go and sleep easy.

Comment by johnyturbo

on 2014/02/19 03:31:11

ridiculous, we allready pay to play, the 90 boost should be a 1 time only per account or not at all .

Hmmm.... you do realize that everyone is getting a FREE lvl 90 boost with the next expansion right?

now all you'll get is people with money getting a bonus once again , blizz gets even more money once again and some players gets nothing cuz they just don't have the 60$ to spare...once again....

I would be upset if this was gear being sold, SPECIALLY if this gear couldn't be obtained otherwise in the game. But its not, this is a leveling service, and leveling is a quick activity that takes at most 2 weeks, and actually yields a very nice profit. I make up to 18k gold for every toon I manually level from 1 to 90, just vendoring quest rewards, and getting the money off the quests.

Its up to each individual player to decide which trade-off they want. Level the old way which is slower but nets you lots of gold along the way, and it doesn't takes an unreasonable amount of time (At most a month and that's if you're VERY very casual). Or level the new way which is instantaneous but expensive, and will leave your character quite empty on the gold area.

speaking for myself, i could easily pay 60$, having a job and all that but hell ! i refuse to do so....

And there's nothing wrong with that. I wont be buying any either, and I imagine with that price range, many others wont either. And that's intended. The high price tag will discourage this feature from being used indiscriminately.

i can imagine lots of young folks still in school relying on parents for money feeling left out

Left out of what? Like I said, its not like it takes you an unreasonable amount of time to level the old way. It wont take you a year. Or half a year, it wont even take you a quarter of a year. At most it means investing 2 weeks to level a character. You're not exactly missing content here.

some would even have to choose between the 90 boost and a few months of subscription....but hey screw them ! right blizz?

Again, this is not something exclusive that's been monetized, its not an exclusive race, its not an exclusive raid, its not an exclusive zone. Those who have to choose between boosting a lvl 90 or 4 months of sub could just as easily just level them the old way. With heirlooms the way they are, and even some rares dropping elixirs that boost your rep by 100%, leveling up is absurdly easy.

i just can't see why you would play a game and pay extra to skip part of the actual gaming, for me personally the lvl boosts for money shouldnt be in the game ,not even the free ones at start, none, no lvl boosts .as you say lvling is so easy these days, why ask ppl money to skip that? i can see why you charge ppl for unique pets or mounts, i myself purchased 3 extra battlechests just to have the zevra mount and 2 rocket mounts, back when mounts weren't account bound yet, this i have no problem with, you pay for something "exclusive" even paid realm transfer and namechange and all that , true they are paid services for a reason....but when u start giving folks the option to skip leveling for money that's where i think it should stopthats all

there should be a title reward for the boosted 90's " the lazy " :-)

Comment by lonewolfe31705

on 2014/02/19 07:39:48

Leveling is part of the experience and it teaches people how to play their class.

LEARNING a class.

I see this argument all the time when it comes to the character boost. And it is the most asinine argument in the world. My GF and I are currently leveling a Moonkin and a Hunter together. We just hit lvl 80 last night.

So far, my rotation has been Hunter's Mark/Pet Attack Macro, Aimed Shot. The mob is dead. Next mob is Hunter's Mark/Pet Attack Macro, Aimed Shot. I throw in a few arcane shot if I pulled too soon and don't have enough energy for Aimed Shot.

Her rotation so far has been wrath, wrath, wrath, dead? (Don't have a druid so I don't know what she is over there spamming.)

She is also currently leveling a destro warlock...wanna guess what she does? Incinerate, Immolate, Drain Life (IF its still alive after the Immolate goes off)

Comment by XxSXBxX

on 2014/02/19 07:43:57

I can't stand the thought of people being able to buy level 90's directly through blizzard themselves. I think that takes a huge part of the experience out of the game, they're stooping just as long as the gold farmers in my opinion, but none the less some of the features seem really amazing that are upcoming as well. So we'll see how this goes.

Comment by Jkpman

on 2014/02/19 08:03:26

I can't stand the thought of people being able to buy level 90's directly through blizzard themselves. I think that takes a huge part of the experience out of the game, they're stooping just as long as the gold farmers in my opinion, but none the less some of the features seem really amazing that are upcoming as well. So we'll see how this goes.

How so?The direct option to buy a 90 is probably not intended for new players and most likely won't be utilized by such.I fail to see how this effects you one bit. For many having to level AGAIN through 90 levels of content just to see how another class plays end game takes a lot out of the game, at least with a service like this it gives those who can afford to spend the money an option.

Comment by zhake132

on 2014/02/19 10:00:47

While you´re at it Blizzard, you might as well let us buy gold from the store.